It was supposed to be a normal day for Bubbles Utonium, well as normal as it can get when you fight supervillains while being in kindergarten.
She had just finished whooping Mojo Jojo's butt for the hundred time (she lost count after the 5th fight) when she saw a weird machine.
And Bubbles being Bubbles, she was extremely curious.
"Hey Blossom! Buttercup! Look at this." She said to her sisters.
"Woah! It's a dimensional traveler!"exclaimed Blossom.
"A what now?" Buttercup questioned
"A dimensional traveler! You know.. a portal that lets you travel through different dimensions!" The leader of the group explained.
"How do you even know that?"
"The name is literally on the machine." She pointed to the bold letters on top of the machine that read,
'DIMENSION TRAVELER '.
Blossom put her hand to her chin.
"Hmmm.. but why would Mojo Jojo have this? Unless he was planning some weird dimensional attack or something." She said
"Maybe we should bring this to the professor. We don't want Mojo Jojo to get any ideas of traveling dimensions."suggested Buttercup.
Bubbles was curious. She wondered what would happen if you turned it on. The blonde knew that Blossom and Buttercup would probably shut down her idea of turning the dimension traveler on, so she decided she would try exploring it herself.
"Bubbles! Stop daydreaming and help us get this machine to Professor Utonium." Hollered her sisters.
"Coming!" She replied
They quickly moved the weird machine to their house where Professor Utonium was waiting for them.
The Professor took a quick look at the machine, "Hmm well this is interesting. I'm not sure why Mojo Jojo would have something like this"
"That's exactly what I was thinking." Blossom said
"From examining the machine, I'm sure it's practically complete. I don't think he had time to actually test it so I'm not sure if it even works." He turned to look at the girls
"You girls don't happen to have the blueprints do you?" He asked hopefully.
"Oh no! Sorry professor just we went in there beat up the green monkey and grabbed this machine." Stated Buttercup
"Well that's alright. I'll keep it in the lab. Girls please don't get close to the machine and don't even THINK about turning it on. We don't know if it even works." He warned
"But Professor!" Started Bubbles
"No buts Bubbles this machine is extremely dangerous." He said
"Aww man." She pouted.
"Aww she looks so cute when she's pouty like that." Professor Utonium cooed.
"Now girls let's all wash our hand and get ready for dinner."
Bubbles couldn't stop thinking about that machine. She could be a scaredy cat at times and (although she refused to admit it ) a bit sensitive. But she was determined to satisfy her curiosity.
Especially when later Buttercup told her that she didn't have what it takes to test the machine.
Which was totally not true. Bubbles was just as hardcore as Blossom and Buttercup. And tonight she was going to prove it.
When the Professor put all three of them to sleep, Bubbles formulated a plan Blossom would be proud of.
The hallway light would be on so it would be easier to sneak out of bed. Quietly Bubbles slipped out of the sheets she was tucked so tightly in. She picked up her octopus plushie Octi for good luck and quietly tiptoed to the lab.
"I'll show them who's hardcore." She whispered to herself.
And just like she expected the lab was empty and low and behold was the machine she was looking for. Bubbles didn't exactly know how to turn the machine. But in her defense she didn't think she would get this far.
It took a little searching (actually like 5 minutes) to find a red button that said on. Wow how obvious. She took a deep breath clutching her octopus plushie in one hand, the other reaching to press the read button.
Click
Huh that really didn't do anything. To say that she was utterly disappointed would be incorrect she was absolutely devastated.
Just as she was going to head back to her room in disappointment, she heard a low hum. Quickly, she spun around and the biggest smile made its way to her face.
Right in front of her was a blue swirly portal. She squealed in excitement but quickly covered her mouth as not to make any noise.
"This is it Octi. No turning back." Bubbles said to her plushie.
She hesitantly took a step towards the blue portal. She reached her hand through and when she did nothing bad happened so Bubbles being Bubbles she shut her eyes tightly and jumped in.
When she landed she opened her eyes and realized she landed in a rooftop in a city. Right away Bubbles did not like this city. It was so cloudy and gray. Where was the color?
She flew away from the blue portal to explore this new dimension.
But poor little Bubbles did not realize the portal shrinking.
While flying around she heard a shriek coming from an alleyway. As a hero she was obligated to help any civilian in need.
Bubbles quickly flew in the direction of the shriek and found 3 guys trying to steal a lady's purse!
"Don't worry lady! Bubbles is here to save the day!" She said.
To say they looked confused was an understatement. The 3 guys started laughing right after she said that. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be the first time she was underestimated.
"What are you going to do to us? You're so tiny I doubt you could cause any damage." Guy 1 teased.
She hated being underestimated. Whether it was from villains or friends, she despised it.
The blonde cracked her knuckles.
"I'll show you how much damage I can cause." She said menacingly.
.....................................................................................
Dick thought he had seen it all, but a little girl beating 3 guys that are at least 3 times bigger then her definitely takes the cake.
He watched as a child threw calculated punches at those guys seemingly not even having a tough time punching them.
He noticed she was flying. Perhaps she was a meta that recently discovered her powers.
If so he had to make sure she didn't accidentally kill the guys. That would be hard to explain to Batman and the police.
"There you go miss. Here's your purse." She said with the cutest smile he had ever seen.
"Thank you so much!" The woman gratefully replied.
"It's no problem! It's my duty as a superhero."She declared.
Huh. So she was a self declared superhero.
Dick watched as the unnamed blonde offered to take the woman home. He followed them both to her apartment for safety measures.
"Have a nice night miss!" She waved goodbye flying off.
Bubbles flew to a nearby roof admiring the city. She didn't like it at first but she kind of got used to the grayness of it all. If it were up to her, there'd be colors everywhere.
"What are you doing up here kid?" She heard a voice say.
She turned her head back to see a man dressed in spandex with a blue bird in the middle of his chest. He wore a black mask that concealed his eyes and had a sort of stick attached to the back of his costume.
"Woah... are you a superhero too mister?" Bubbles said excitedly flying over to the man.
If Dick didn't think about adopting a child before, he was definitely thinking about it now. The kid was the cutest child he had ever seen. With her bubbly personality and cute looks, he wondered if she could beat villains simply by convincing them that crime is bad.
"I'm Nightwing." He introduced himself
"Cool name! Very creative. I'm Bubbles!" She smiled.
As if she couldn't get any cuter, she did. Her superhero name was Bubbles for godsake!
"Is that your superhero name?" He questioned.
She tilted her head to the side in a way that made Dick want to squeal.
"Superhero name? No that's my actual name. Bubbles Utonium at your service Mr.Nightwing!" She answered. She held up her octopus plushie.
"And this is Octi my sidekick!"
Dick was surprised. She was trusting him with her civilian identity? But at the same time he wondered if she knew what a secret identity was.
"Cute name. I have to ask though, what are you doing so late at night in Gotham? Aren't your parents going to worry about you?" He asked
So that's what the city is called Gotham. Sounds like got ham.
"Thanks for the concern Mr.Nightwing, but I'm perfectly fine on my own. Bye now!" She said flying away. She should probably get home now, she had enough exploring. Bubbles wanted to go home and sleep.
"Wait! Kid!" He called after her. Dick let out an audible sigh. He should probably look for the kid.
In the meantime, Bubbles was panicking. While she found the exact rooftop from where she came, there was no portal in sight. This was not good. How was she supposed to get home? Was she never going to see her sisters or her dad again?
All these thoughts were raving through her head as she frantically searched the entire city for a sign of the blue portal. She found none and now she was stuck here in Gotham.
She sat on top of a roof somewhere in the city and held her knees to her chest. Her lips quivered and tears leaked out of her eyes. Bubbles was full on crying now.
She was scared and all alone and it was scary and dark.
Nightwing sighed out a breath of relief when he saw a familiar figure sitting on a roof
"There you are kid! I was looking all over for you are you- okay....?" He trailed off after he noticed her crying.
"*hiccup* I-I'm all a-alone a-and I-ll n-never see Blossom o-or B-Buttercup or the P-Professor a-again!!" She explained sobbing.
Nightwing's expression softened at the crying girl.
"Hey, it's alright kid everything is going to be okay." He soothed
Bubbles sniffled
"You can help me Mr.Nightwing?" She asked with her big doe eyes.
"I'll try my best Bubbles." He said. In reality he had no idea if Bruce was going to let him take the kid into the batcave. Everyone knew about Batman's strict no meta's rule.
"Let me make a quick call." Nightwing pulled out a phone from who knows where and clicked on Bruce's contact.
"Hello?"
"Hey B, we've got a code M"
"There's a meta in Gotham?"
"Ya but that's not the only thing, she's a kid."
"That complicates things. How old is she?"
Dick pulled the phone away from his ear "How old are you Bubs?"
"Five! I'm a big kid!"
"She's Five."
"*sigh* do her parents live in Gotham?"
"She's lost, she doesn't know where she is."
"Fine, bring her to the cave. However she'll be under high surveillance. We don't know the true extent of her powers."
He then promptly hung up. Dick wasn't surprised. Bruce always liked having the last word.
"Good news Bubs. You're coming with me!" He smiled brightly.
Her eye's immediately lit up and she dried her tears away. Nice to know that there were some decent people in an unfamiliar place.
"Cool!"